Fulfilling the Promise:
Towards Decent Work for All Young People
Facing the reality
1. In spite of strong economic growth and relative political and social stability, young
people looking for work have found their prospects deteriorate within the last decade. The
problems related to youth and employment are escalating and have an ever stronger
impact on societies around the world:
- More and more young people find themselves unemployed. Global youth
unemployment rose from 70 million in 1994 to 85 million in 2004. Though youth only
make up 25 percent of the working age-population and less than 20 percent of the
world’s labour force, almost half of the unemployed people in the world are young
people. Young people in developing countries are 3.8 times more likely to find
themselves unemployed than older workers. In industrialised economies, youth are
2.3 times more likely to be unemployed.
1 There are also significant differences in
unemployment rates between young women and men. Thus, in all developing
regions except East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the regional youth unemployment
rates for women exceed those of men.
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Young people are increasingly squeezed out of employment and discouraged
to seek work.
The global employment to population ratio of youth decreased from
51.7 in 1995 to 46.7 in 2005. In comparison the employment ratio among adults
was 66.3 in 2005. The labour force participation rate of youth, that is the proportion
of youth in employment or in unemployment, i.e. those either working or actively
looking for work, declined from 58.9 in 1995 to 54.1 in 2005..
- More and more young people are underemployed or working in poverty. Youth
accounted for about 20 percent of the world’s 535 million working poor in 2004. This
means that more than 100 million young people worked but lived in households that
earned less than US$ 1 a day.
- Young people are deprived of decent work. Youth, in both industrialised and
developing countries, are not only more at risk of finding themselves among the
unemployed, they are also more likely to be working long hours, on short-term and
informal contracts, with low pay and no social protection. Young women, for
example, make up 80% of workers in export processing zones, and in the EU, one
third of young people are working under temporary contracts compared to 11
percent of adults. Globally it is estimated that 85 percent of all new employment
opportunities are informal.
YOUTH COMMITTEE
2. There are several regional differences in the development of the most general
indicators of how young people fare in the labour market. Nevertheless, the overall picture
is as one of worse employment opportunities for young people – with young women facing
even higher rates of unemployment than the average for young people in general. In the
transition economies the youth population grew by 10.1 percent, in the last decade, but
youth employment dropped by 11.7 percent in the same period. In East Asia the youth
population fell by 11.3 percent but at the same time youth employment fell by 18 percent.
South-East Asia witnessed growth in the total number of young people of 13.1 percent but
employment grew by only 0.3 per cent. In South Asia, the youth population grew by 21.9
per cent whereas employment only grew by 11.6 per cent. And in Latin America and the
Caribbean there were 13.1 per cent more young people in 2003 than in 1993 but only 2.8
per cent more young people working. Only the Middle East and North Africa and sub-
Saharan Africa saw a relative balance between youth population growth and youth
employment growth. At the same time, nevertheless, the Middle East and North Africa still
had by far the lowest youth employment to population ratio, with only every third young
person working in 2003. In the industrialised countries (including North America, Europe,
Japan etc.) the youth population actually fell in the period, by 2.5 percent, while total youth
employment dropped by 3.1 percent. Youth unemployment rates in 2003 were highest in
the regions of the Middle East and North Africa, at 25.6 per cent, and sub-Saharan Africa,
at 21 percent. They were lowest in East Asia, at 7 per cent, and in the industrialized
economies, at 13.4 per cent. Although the unemployment rate of youth was lowest in East
Asia, the rate there has increased by 46 percent since 1993. On the other hand, some of
the developing regions with the highest rates showed slight decreases in their rates over
the period. Only the industrialized economies saw a notable decrease in youth
unemployment, from 15.4 per cent in 1993 to 13.4 per cent in 2003, and thus still at much
higher rates than the total unemployment rates. Finally, unemployment is caused by many
different reasons and the young unemployed are often a very diverse group – in the Middle
East and North Africa, many young unemployed are well educated, while lack of education
to a much larger extent is a cause of unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa.
2
3. The problems of unfavourable employment and unemployment for youth have
exacerbated in the last decade, and as the number of young people either in work or
looking for work will increase over the next years, it is very probable that the problems will
be even worse in the future. Again, forecasts are still more negative for young women than
for young men. In 2015, 660 million young people will either be working or looking for work.
This is a rise of 7 per cent of the number of youth in the labour force at the moment. During
the decade up to 2015 there will be more first time job seekers than ever before and decent
employment opportunities for young people will need to grow substantially. The challenge
will be greatest in the regions with the largest expected labour force growth, namely sub-
Saharan Africa where growth of young people is forecasted to be 30 million, or about 28
percent, and South Asia with predicted growth of 21 million, or 15 per cent, between now
and 2015.
4. Unfavourable conditions for youth employment and high rates of youth
unemployment have a tendency to hit developing countries the hardest, as youth make up
a strikingly higher proportion of the labour force in these countries than in industrialised
economies – 22 percent versus 14 percent respectively at the moment. And it is even the
regions with the largest shares of youth within the working-age population − South Asia, the
Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa − that presently fare worst in terms of
youth unemployment. All in all, 85 percent of the world’s youth live in developing countries.
In the years to come, the question in these countries is whether there will be enough
employment opportunities to accommodate the labour market entrants and whether such
employment will be decent and productive. This will depend on the rate of economic growth
and the employment intensity of this growth. It will also take a strong political will to tackle
the problem. In industrialised economies, the challenge in the coming years is particularly
linked to slow economic and employment growth, the transition into employment,
discrimination, social disadvantages, cyclical trends, and a number of perceived structural
factors, which employers argue keep them from hiring more young people.
Comprehending the problem
5. The situation of youth in the labour market, and the effort of ensuring decent work
for all of them, is not just about employment ratios and unemployment rates. These
measures reflect just one facet of the youth labour market. Many young people in countries
across the world often work unacceptably long hours under informal, irregular and insecure
work arrangements. Their work is far from decent. They are exposed to low wages, poor
and precarious working conditions, lack of access to social protection, and robbed of the
freedom to join a trade union or engage in collective bargaining. Due to the shortage of
decent work, particularly in developing countries, informal employment is often the only
alternative available to young people.
6. The quantitative and qualitative lack of decent work for young people is a
multifaceted problem, which cannot be solved in isolation. It concerns the employability of
young people and their transition from school to work, the general level of economic activity
and demand of labour, as well as the unequal ways in which labour markets distribute
opportunities.
7. While some young people make the transition from education to work effectively, it
is problematic for many others. Unfortunately, many young people do not complete
schooling, lack the basic literacy and numeracy skills that are necessary to access
vocational training, or have insufficient skills to gain secure and sustainable employment
opportunities. This is particularly the case for young women who are often more illiterate
than young men, and moreover suffer gender-based discrimination. Plenty of others do
have the right skills and qualifications but end up without work for a period of time because
of the absence of adequate labour market information, insufficient vocational guidance and
counselling, and poor job placement mechanisms.
8. Economic ups and downs always affect the demand for labour, the levels of
employment and unemployment, and the quality of the jobs offered at the time. But youth
are even more vulnerable to the negative fluctuations and downturns economies
experience, particularly when these result in persistent recession. When economic
downturns hits in, young entrants to the labour force will face limited employment
opportunities and will thus begin their labour market experience as unemployed. And if
employers find themselves forced to downsize through ‘last-in, first-out’ firing practices,
many young workers will be the ones with the least tenure and thus be the first to go.
9. Ensuring better chances in the labour market for young people is both to the
advantage of the individual young worker and to the specific society in general. Most
obvious are the personal gains, as there is a proven link between youth unemployment and
social exclusion. An inability to find employment creates a sense of vulnerability,
uselessness and idleness among young people and can heighten the attraction of
engaging in illegal activities. Moreover, groups that face particularly depressed labour
markets when graduating from primary or secondary education are − other things equal −
subject to relatively higher rates of unemployment during their whole working life.
10. Less obvious than the individual costs and gains but just as important, decent work
for young people unleashes multiplier effects throughout whole economies and societies,
boosting investment and consumer demand as well as assuring more stable and cohesive
social ties across generations. It shifts young people from social dependence to selfsufficiency,
helps them escape poverty and enables them to actively contribute to society.
On the other hand, youth unemployment and underemployment impose heavy social and
economic costs, resulting in the loss of opportunities for economic growth, erosion of the
tax base which undermines investment in infrastructure and public services, increased
welfare costs, and unutilized investment in education and training. And it and may also be
associated with social instability and conflict, increased levels of poverty, crime and
substance abuse. In fact, it has been estimated that halving the world’s youth
unemployment rate – currently, from 14 to 7 percent – could add up to US$ 3.5 trillion to
the world economy. This would be a 6-7 percent increase of global GDP. The largest
relative gains from getting youth into decent work would be in sub-Saharan Africa, with a
gain in GDP of up to 19 percent.
11. As youth consistently face higher obstacles to entering employment, it has been
argued from some sides that the wages of young people should be lowered, not least
though lower legal minimum wages for them, and that their employment relations should be
made more flexible, in effect giving them less rights than other people in the labour market.
And in several countries policies have aimed at cutting young people’s wages. Yet, while
comparative wage levels of young people have fallen in real terms during the last 20 years
in numerous countries, the unemployment rate of young people has increased considerably
at the same time. Such policies have not produced the predicted results but have rather led
to an exacerbation of the problems. Similarly, the inclusion of flexibility measures – from
temporary and part-time contracts to less regulated terms of recruiting young people –
have considerably affected the wages and living conditions of young people negatively.
This is not a sustainable way of combating the problems young people face with regards to
employment. It creates two-tier labour markets, stigmatise young people in relation to the
world of work even more than they already are, and encourage their exploitation. Rather
than stimulate the creation of decent work for all young people, it undermines it.
Combating the challenge
12. The opportunities for young people to obtain decent work are influenced by a
number of factors, including demographic trends, the level of aggregate demand, the
employment intensity of growth, the policy space for pro-employment policies at the
national level, an enabling regulatory environment for both workers and enterprises,
education and vocational training outcomes and quality, work experience and
entrepreneurship options. Meeting the youth employment challenge therefore calls for an
integrated and coherent approach that combines interventions at the macro- and
microeconomic level, focuses on labour demand and supply, and addresses both the
quantity and quality of employment.
13. Youth employment should be considered in all relevant social, employment and
economic policies through a well-balanced policy mix. Supportive national trade, industry,
training and wage policies, with appropriate involvement of the social partners, are required
to combat the challenge. Young women still face particular difficulties in relation to their
gender, and the creation of decent jobs for women will only happen if policy makers place
gender employment issues at the centre of policies, and if the fact that women often face
more substantial challenges in the workplace than men is recognised. Two principles
should be at centre stage in the development and implementation of such policies:
- The approach should be rights based. When the aim is creating decent work for
young people, not just any kind of work, the rights that ensure quality jobs, high
standards, and good working conditions must be maintained. The qualitative aspect
of decent work for young people cannot be compromised. The core labour
standards and other standards related to the quality of work, such as hours of work,
minimum wage, social security, and occupational heath and security, should be at
the centre stage of the effort. Furthermore, migrant workers – a significant part of
whom are young people – should enjoy the same rights as everybody else in the
labour markets they are part of. Special emphasis should be put on ensuring young
people with limited or without any seniority in employment the rights to social
security and protection that are usually linked to the time one has been in
employment. All in all, young people should enjoy the same rights related to work,
and in effect have the same job-security, as their older colleagues.
- Young people should be included in all processes. Participation of young
people, through their duly chosen trade union representatives, in the development
and implementation of youth employment policies at the workplace as well as the
national, regional and international level should be ensured, so that such policies
reflect the realities of the people they concern.
14. Comprehensive and integrated approaches to ensure decent work for all young
people should be embraced by governments and international institutions. They should
combine macroeconomic policies targeting aggregate demand, productive capacities and
employment opportunities, with interventions aimed at overcoming disadvantages and skills
shortage, while promoting equality, social inclusion and an equitable society. They should
be based on the involvement of the social partners in both the design and implementation
of policies and programmes. And they should place decent work for young people at the
heart of economic and social policies.
3 Such strategies and policies should take into
account the different situations young people are in, and thus not pursue one-size-fits-all
solutions. They should be developed around four interrelated objectives:
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